“As far as our noblest hardwood forests are concerned, the animals, especially squirrels and jays, are our greatest and almost only benefactors. It is to them that we owe this gift. It is not in vain that the squirrels live in or about every forest tree, or hollow log, and every wall and heap of stones.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“Let me tell you, if you have never seen an agitated squirrel you have seen very little, nor have you heard much, because the sound of an angry squirrel is not to be forgotten.” ~ Joe R. Lansdale
We are starting to stock up for the winter. Arkansas isn’t terrible in the winter, but it doesn’t do winter well. We almost never have just really pretty snows that cover everything with a beautiful white blanket and then melt away. We have ice, THEN snow, which makes it almost impossible to drive or walk or….
Lisa Wellwood – @studio22artz on X
Compounding that, we have a 650+ foot driveway on the north side of our property – long and steep and just perfect as a ski slope, if you were wanting one. Any snow or ice storm causes the trees on either side of the driveway to droop down or break off into the driveway, forcing us to chainsaw our way out.
I once sledded down our driveway with our son, pushing off at the top and ending up across the street that runs in front of our house, in the ditch, against the barbed wire fence, with my jeans jammed full of the snow I had gathered on the way down. Once was entirely enough, though our son thought it was wonderful and wanted to do it again…
G H Holt Photography – @ghholt on X
As a result, we already have our snow tires on our truck – just in case. We will stock up on food and supplies so that we can ‘hole up’ up here on top of our ridge line if we get snowed or iced in. The worst time ever was when we lost access to both public power and public water for 14 days. Thankfully, we have a generator powered by propane, and a well we can switch to, if needed.
Squirreling away things that will help us through the winter has begun.
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